Tanis Half-Elven | DragonLance Saga

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Transcript
He is the personification of balance being pulled in two opposite directions. Let’s learn more about Tanis Half-Elven.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about Tanis Half-Elven. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. I am referencing many sourcebooks and novels for this information. If you feel I have left anything out, please leave a comment below.
Discussion
Tanis Half-Elven was one of the three characters developed by Tracy and Laura Hichman that would encapsulate the theme of Dragonlance. The balance of the world between Good, Evil, and Neutral and how that balance needed to be maintained in order to keep the clockwork of the world in motion. This is witnessed in Tanis’ relationship with Laurana and Kitiara. This is a lot to put on any one character, but it added a depth and relatable humanity to the character. It is the basic urge we all feel, that we struggle with what is known and comfortable and what is exotic and unknown at the most basic of levels. Even as he was married to Laurana at the end of the Blue Lady’s War, he would still think of Kit. In Dragonlance Adventures it is characterized as follows: There is always in the back of Tanis' mind the fantasy of Kitiara-just as Kit knew there would be when she aided his escape from the Temple at Neraka. Much as Crysania is in love with an ideal of Raistlin that can never possibly be, so Tanis is in love with an ideal of Kitiara. And though he had to let her go to Lord Soth, he still held her in his heart, as I believe we all do, for those we have made intimate connections with, even if they hurt us in some way.

More than the love triangle, Tanis was at war with himself. He is an incredibly introspective character that is constantly questioning his ability to lead and the soundness of his actions. He questions his friends' behavior and honestly cares about them, even in disagreement. He suffers from severe self doubt and depression according to the authors and I believe his actions speak to that chemical or trauma based imbalance. It is echoed in his racial makeup as well between his elven mother and human father. He was born in a catastrophic time and depending on the backstory, born of violence or unfortunate circumstance. In either case he was not accepted and was reminded that he was half-human, less than Elven, his entire life. This would cause emotional trauma for anyone, and I believe we can all relate directly or indirectly with his experience. He was by blood, the nephew of the Speaker of the Sun Solostaran Kanan, through the marriage of his mother Elansa Sungold and the Speaker’s brother Prince Kethrenan Kanan.

Though there are different tales of his background, one of violent rape, the result of an impossible situation Elansa found herself in with her captor Brand, or simply a bastard adopted by Solostaran, the facts are outlined in novels that he was a member of the royal household who was raised, educated and when he and Lauralanthalasa pledged themselves to each other, he was reviled by the brothers he knew his whole life. He left Qualinesti at the age of eighty to search for a friendly Niedar Dwarf toymaker named Flint Fireforge he had befriended in his youth. Tanis suffered from an early wanderlust, traveling for years never finding a home until he found himself in Solace with Flint where he lived for twenty years. He would return to his homeland of Qualinesti from time to time, always swearing to never return after receiving the same negative treatment from his ‘family’. It was in Solace where he met the innfellows, most notably Kitiara. Tanis believed he was rescuing Kit from hobgoblins and she was furious about his intervention. They fought which turned to wrestling which turned to, well taking off their boots. Tanis was fascinated by the wild, darkly beautiful Kitiara Uth Matar...

[DLSaga]

Thank you for watching today's Dragonlance Setting video. What do you think of Tanis Half-Elven? Was he royalty or not? Was he too stubborn for his own good? Leave a comment below.

[Ghostmaker-cu]

“I’ve never heard you lie before half-elf.” That line was amazing.

[Yuri-pwiy]

Tanis the Shadow years is the best novel out of the main series I have ever read. Still read it with the rest.

[trieze]

I didn't enjoy him at all when I was younger. However, reading it when I was older I enjoyed him and I must say I shed a tear during Dragons of Summer Flame. Don't know if he was always the best leader, but he tried.

[orangexlightning]

The irony of Tanis is despite only being half of one, he feels the most human out of any of the cast.

[aedwardsss]

I find it interesting that Tanis is often described by fans as a “Ranger” even though his initial stat block in the module makes him ineligible for the class, while Riverwind is definitely a Ranger

[drewstar]

My favourite character! I post on a lot of these vids but I just wanna say thank you for keeping the world of dragonlance alive it’s by far THE BEST fantasy world ever created IMO!!

[soliloquypenguin]

I named my son Tanis. It's his middle name. I wanted to use the long version but couldn't find it in time. Hope you mention it.

[colinleat]

Only complaint... videos should be at least 3 times as long. 🤘😁🖖🇨🇦

[bwg]

Good video (and three cheers for including “The Ransom Note” in the background montage). I do though have to disagree with the statement that “Tanis loved Laurana but wanted Kitiara” which I think rather understates Tanis’s passion for Laurana, for while it is certainly true that Tanis loved Laurana, he was also repeatedly shown to be very strongly sexually attracted to her as well.

"Laurana ..." Tanis repeated, thrusting the dagger back into his belt with a shaking hand. He pushed her away and sat up angry at himself for frightening her and angry at her for awakening something deep within him. For an instant, when she lay on top of him, he was acutely conscious only of the smell of her hair, the warmth of her slender body, the play of the muscles in her thighs, the softness of her small breasts. Laurana had been a girl when he left. He returned to find a woman-a very beautiful, desirable woman.
¬-Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Book II, Chapter 7

Tanis looked down at the small, slender hand on his arm and gently put his own over it. Only a few months earlier the touch would have irritated him, causing confusion and guilt as he wrestled with the love for a human woman against what he told himself was a childhood infatuation with this elfmaiden. But now the touch of Laurana's hand filled him with warmth and peace, even as it stirred his blood.
-Dragons of Winter Night, Book I, Chapter 1

Tanis thought of Kitiara and he thought of Laurana, but he was interested to note that the old painful thrill didn't knot his soul anymore when he said Kitiara's name to himself. No, now it was Laurana- the silly little girl who had been no more than a spoiled and irritating child only months before- who made his blood burn and his hands search for excuses to touch her.
¬-Dragons of Winter Night, Book I, Chapter 4

Thus I would contend that Tanis both loved and wanted Laurana.

[jamistarbrite]

the Story of Tanis Inspired me to Adopt the Role of a Half Star Elf as I do now in Second Life .

[socksieboy]

When I read his death I literally gasped and said out loud “no!”

[thebrotherskrynn]

Now that I've finished my psychological video of Raistlin, I just want to talk/think about Tanis. Thanks so much for this video, came out at the perfect time, love Half-Elven, he's an incredibly flawed character. I wonder how much of his depression has to do with his uncle and cousin Porthios's abuse (anytime I crack open a book that includes them, speaking about or to Tanis, I just wish Cyan Bloodbane had done to those two, what he did to Lorac). Though I do find it sad, how Tanis could not live up to their expectations (in his youth I mean).
Oh one point of contention; I'll disagree that Crysania loved an ideal of Raistlin, as she did in the end win out and redeem him, so maybe she saw a side of Raistlin nobody else did (given their hatred this isn't surprising) (I'd compare her love for him, to the love Luke had for Anakin, it led Luke astray but in the end did win out). As he and Crysania are vastly different from Kit & Tanis. Tanis was in love with an ideal, but once he realised the truth about Kit, he cut himself off from her, and chose Laurana. And this is another difference between him and Raistlin; Tanis is inherently better-equipped to be good and is a better person over-all than Raistlin. Who in turn, was raised and hated his whole life by Kit, Flint and Tanis, and thus ill-equipped to be better than he was. Though he could have tried harder, as Tanis did.

Sorry for the long post, this video is incredibly thought-provoking, and while I'm a bit more fond in some ways of Tanis to Raistlin. I wonder how different things might have been had he curbed more of the Companions poor-treatment of the mage, and if he had in turn sought to curb Raistlin's darker side rather than making use of it. Though poor Tanis had enough on his plate with his own turmoil, he could hardly be blamed for Raistlin's poor-decision making. With that said, I think he was a pretty good leader to an extent considering how little he had to work with, and how generally uncooperative most of the Companions were towards one another. If you disagree, I really can't wait to see you pick apart this post, as I love your viewpoint on things Adam, as it is very different from my own, and hope you have very good holidays!

[bradveach]

Tanisha half evening is the t embody meant o dragon Lance. All had great drama. But his was the one that twined it all together❤

[JoseMolina-ijxx]

One of the books about Tanis Half-Elven is so non-canon that I sometimes wonder if the author of that book even read any Dragonlance novel. This book is known as Tanis Shadow Years. IT would be interesting to view the non-canon aspects of this novel and how it contradicts the rest of Dragonlance lore.

[nonnayerbusiness]

Tanis was said to be inspired by Captain Kirk... but I think he ended up most resembling Hamlet.

[randomusernameCallin]

For me Tanis is the archetype of a 4e warlord.

[solowolf]

Tania is my favorite character from Dragon Lance. I could relate to a person who struggled yet did the right thing. I feel he was the opposite of Raistlin. Both were outsiders except Tanis does the right thing while Raistlin does the wrong thing

[michaelthompson]

I always found the emphasis on how he was conceived a bit too much on the nose and in your face way to often and has way to little hatred of humans for it to be mentioned so many times

[SSquirrel]

Tanis is no Tasslehoff, but really who is? Tanis always felt wishy washy, and especially in the earlier books they hadn’t really stretched out on their writing yet. Tasslehoff and Raistlin are still my favorites.